The present development relates to support tape and, more particularly, to an improved inelastic, conformable support tape. The support tape of the present disclosure may advantageously be used by orthopedists or athletic trainers, to limit the range of motion of a joint to prevent injury or facilitate safe use of an injured body part. The support tape in accordance with this disclosure may be referred to herein variously as “sports tape” or “athletic tape” for the sake of brevity and it will be recognized that the support tape according to the present disclosure may find other uses as well, such as in orthopedic medical applications, veterinary medicine for animal applications, and references to the support tape herein as “sports tape” or “athletic tape” is not intended to exclude such other applications.
Taping of ankles, knees, and elbows is widely used in sports and orthopedic medicine to prevent injury or to protect existing injuries by limiting abnormal or excessive movement and by providing mechanical support to underlying muscles. Currently available athletic tape, such as COACH® athletic tape available from Johnson and Johnson, comprises a woven cotton cloth having a pressure-sensitive adhesive applied to one surface. Such prior art cotton-based tapes are advantageous in that they are highly flexible and conformable to the body part to which they are applied. The prior art cotton cloth tape is also readily hand tearable, which is especially desirable in the case of a sports tape job, which a generally more complex than a simple compression wrap and typically requires tearing multiple strips which are applied in a particular configuration or pattern to provide the desired level of support and immobilization.
Despite its good conformity and hand tearability, it has been found that the prior art cotton tape will stretch significantly, e.g., up to five percent in length, when exposed to moisture, such as exercise-associated sweat and mechanical strain. Under such conditions, these tapes frequently loosen and lose their effectiveness in providing the desired level of orthopedic support to the joint or body part to which it was applied. Another prior art approach is to use a synthetic cloth material in place of the cotton. However, it has been found that synthetic cloth is too stiff and not as conforming to the contours of the body part being taped. Therefore, each of these approaches to athletic or orthopedic taping suffers from one or more shortcomings in comfort and/or performance.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved athletic tape for supporting a human or animal body part and method for its manufacture that provides a high degree of flexibility but that does not stretch upon exposure to moisture.